TUEBL – eBook piracy

Jan.13,2013

Travis McCrea is providing a site where you can download eBooks for free. He claims this isn’t piracy and assuages his guilt by donating to charities and claiming he helps authors get exposure. I put a lot of time and effort into my writing and you’ll see by my work that it shows. Tuebl is nothing more than a sleazy pawn shop. David D. creator of Challenger RPG and Travis are getting into a good discussion about the pros and cons here. Why any author would provide free copies to get exposure is nothing short of devaluing their work and self-serving promotion on other’s backs. People don’t appreciate anything they get for free. My comments on the site are as follows.

First of all I can’t believe authors would upload books for free. If they do they devalue their work in their own eyes and everyone else’s. I tried to search for lesser known authors on TUEBL and found none, only big names were there who do not need the exposure. It’s been my experience that when people get something for free they don’t respect it, and that goes for Indian’s homes on the Rez to books. People who pirate music and literature are generally uncreative slobs who have no idea of the time, effort, and creativity of the artists. If they knew, they wouldn’t do it. Maybe they’re good at something else besides theft. Mr. McCrea claims he doesn’t run a pirate site and when challenged on it likes to lay some guilt on his detractors by his offerings to charity (leave me be or by God, I’ll close down the orphanage). This ruse may put some on the defensive, but the bottom line is he provides a place for people to steal much like a sleazy pawn shop claiming the store helps the impoverished. Since one cannot stand outside McCrea’s storefront with ropes and torches, the only way to stop online piracy is to incorporate a nasty virus into an innocuous upload.
I do enjoy the discussion however. Good job David, you are a fine artist and your fighting back is impressive. Unfortunately, the arts in North America, unlike in Europe, are vastly underfunded and unappreciated.